ALBANY -- Philemon Chavis received 19 years in prison Thursday for savagely attacking his wife in March, but not before she described how he became a "runaway freight train speeding down a hill with no brakes."

On March 13, Chavis slammed the head of Karen Chavis, his wife of 25 years, into concrete inside their renovated red brick carriage house at 22 Garden Alley. He punched her, choked her to unconsciousness and doused her with bleach. Then he tied her up in a luxury car and forced her to try to extract a $100,000 ransom from her family or face death.

Chavis, a 44-year-old former state public works investigator for the state Department of Labor, was quickly arrested for the attack, which nearly killed his wife.

On Thursday, Karen Chavis appeared in Albany County Court with a crowd of family and friends. Her victim impact statement offered kind, at times forgiving, words to her former husband before he was sentenced by acting Supreme Court Justice Dan Lamont.

She made it clear she believes Chavis descended down a dark path amid stresses -- and made the wrong friends.

More Information

"You admit now that you knew you were doing wrong and that it made you angry at yourself," she told Chavis, according to transcripts. "I understand that. But I truly believe that at the same time you loved the lifestyle you were leading. You liked being someone people looked up to and I understand how your anger at yourself just exacerbated your frustrations until you became like a runaway freight train speeding down a hill with no brakes.

"Something dramatic had to happen as you sped toward an inevitable disaster. But I never imagined the disaster that happened on March 13."

Karen Chavis suffered bleeding on the brain, two broken ribs, a collapsed lung, cracked teeth and other injuries.

Following his arrest, Chavis told police he felt "bad and embarrassed" but he claimed it was Karen Chavis who provoked him.

He struck a different tone on Thursday, though he called the felony assault a "roadblock."

"As far as my actions and the mistakes that I have made, I may have tipped the scales of forgiveness," he told his wife.

He also compliment Assistant District Attorney Shannon Sarfoh, saying, "I ask and hope that you are aware of Karen and I's lives more than most anyone here and I ask if you could still be a source of encouragement and comfort to Karen so that you can help us get past this roadblock in our lives."

Karen Chavis told the defendant she knows he is a "good person, a caring person , a person who would do anything for anyone," but also someone not afraid to do anything.

"These qualities are admirable but became your demise as you began to spiral out of control," she said. "You became someone I didn't know. I know you were under a lot of stress and it's clear now that you did not possess the skills to handle the stresses you faced but some of those stresses you created for yourself, and although that may sound like an excuse for your behavior, it's in no way an excuse. Of all people, you should have had the skills you needed and you knew you had options. You had the power to just say no. You had options ... you opted to be selfish."

At the outset, the former wife told Chavis, "We are two people that should not be in this courtroom having a judge deliver a sentence for a terrible crime. Instead we are two people that should be planning for our next big adventure, whatever that might be. But over the last few years you chose to make choices that changed not only your life but changed the lives of others sitting here today and that's why we're here."